[Lens] Dimensions with empty names are difficult to edit

[markov00]

Kibana version:
8.7.0

Describe the bug:
I've discovered that issue mainly working with the new Metric visualization, where I want a bit more controls of what is rendered on the chart. When, for example, I'm creating a small multiple of metrics but I don't want to render multiple time the same primary metric text on each metric, I usually insert a simple space as the name of the primary metric.
This creates the following problems:

1. the clickable area to edit the metric is reduced drastically to only the icon area + a small side padding

Screen.Recording.2023-02-15.at.12.11.55.mov

2. the keyboard accessible focus area is invisible due to the missing text (is accessible but not shown)

Screen.Recording.2023-02-15.at.12.13.01.mov

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create a metric chart
2. Change the name of the primary metric to be an empty string (usually an empty space)
3. see the issues

Expected behavior:
I probably expect that the button still is clickable with ease even if the name is short or empty. The same for the keyboard focus.

[elasticmachine]

Pinging @elastic/kibana-visualizations @elastic/kibana-visualizations-external (Team:Visualizations)

[drewdaemon]

I agree with this as a general enhancement, but I also think it points to a deeper problem which is that we don't allow folks to hide the metric subtitle in a breakdown situation.

This particular case should be alleviated by #137770

[dej611]

I had a look at this problem, from a general prospective, and explored few "simple" solutions.
At the end I think it is more a design and accessibility problem rather than actual implementation.

The proposed ideas will work for any title string that once trimmed will result in a empty string (title.trim().length === 0).

First idea

Fill the dimension button of whitespaces to make most of the area clickable

• pros: all clean and it is pretty easy to click on the dimension button and edit. Also it can be provided an alternative a11y no title
• cons: it is still a link and on hover the underline is still shown. I've explored if it's possible to disable it on a EUI button, but then I felt that the a11y aspect of it would be undermined.

I've experimented with several unicode ways to render whitespaces but didn't find anything better than a regular white space.

Second idea

Use an alternative title for the specific case.

• pros: the design is not as nicer as above, but it is crystal clear that the dimension has no title. Also it is still easy to click to edit.
• cons: none?

Of course in both cases the choice of [No title] was completely arbitrary and can be changed to something else that fits the case.

[stratoula]

I like the second idea! :)

cc @MichaelMarcialis

[dej611]

PR with the second proposal implementation available here: #154368

[MichaelMarcialis]

When, for example, I'm creating a small multiple of metrics but I don't want to render multiple time the same primary metric text on each metric, I usually insert a simple space as the name of the primary metric.

@markov00: Forgive my confusion, but could you elaborate on why you are supplying a single space for the dimension name? What is the case for it being preferable to have dimension items with no name?

Based on how Lens currently operates, if the dimension name input is cleared, it reverts back to using the auto-generated name. If there isn't a very compelling reason to allow unnamed dimension items, my first instinct would be to simply treat the name input with only space values as if it were empty (i.e. revert back to the auto-generated name).

Alternatively, if there is indeed a compelling reason to allow unnamed dimension items, and we want to support this hacky workaround of inserting a space character as the dimension name, I prefer @dej611's second idea of supplying an "Untitled" string. However, this begs the question as to whether we should even bother making the dimension name input required (if we're going to allow people to circumvent it like this). With that in mind, should we make the dimension name input optional and show the "Untitled" string in situations where the input was empty or filled with space characters. If so, we'd also have to consider whether we need to provide users with the ability to restore the auto-generated dimension names. Thoughts?

[drewdaemon]

I agree with @MichaelMarcialis 's general sentiment.

Is hiding the subtitle for multi-metric visualizations the only place these empty dimensions are coming up? If so, maybe we just need to fix that specific case and close this back door by following @MichaelMarcialis 's suggestion

simply treat the name input with only space values as if it were empty

As I said above, I assumed #137770 would take care of the metric subtitle question. However, if we are not sure about moving the title into the visualization anymore, maybe we need a new solution to the metric subtitle question.

[markov00]

@MichaelMarcialis in this case for example, if I'm using a panel in a dashboard with a title like: Count of records per country I don't need to render the same subtitle on each metric.

To achieve the desired result, today I can only use the space trick because it is the only way to avoid the auto-generated title.

There is another possible way to fix this by providing an option to hide the subtitle or other title like in the axes for example.

[MichaelMarcialis]

@markov00: Thanks for that explanation. I understand now, and I like your alternative idea of providing users with an option to hide subtitles. Since it's an option that extends across multiple dimensions (primary metric and breakdown in this case) and is applied across the entire visualization, it probably would make sense to have an option added for it in the toolbar area above the visualization, like we do for other visualization types. In doing so, we could also prevent the dimension name inputs from accepting and using a space character (and instead restore the auto-generated name). Thoughts?

[stratoula]

Yes this seems as a good solution to me Michael. I am changing this to enhancement, I will add it to 8.9.

[dej611]

This is not the first time I see this bug coming up, before the new metric. I think it was a way to keep the axis padding on the chart without providing a title to it.

While having a new metric solution would fix @markov00 's case, it would be nice to provide a general solution also for other visualization types.

Based on how Lens currently operates, if the dimension name input is cleared, it reverts back to using the auto-generated name. If there isn't a very compelling reason to allow unnamed dimension items, my first instinct would be to simply treat the name input with only space values as if it were empty (i.e. revert back to the auto-generated name).

I think it kind of make sense to have the auto-generated name on both cases, but still not 100% it's the same thing.
If a user did put some more extra effort to have some extra spacing in there maybe it wanted to make sure the wasn't really anything in there to be shown (and we could make sure this reflects on the visualization side), but I'm sure, as a user, that every time I would see that auto-generated name placed on the dimension box it would confuse me 😅 . Maybe we could give a different style to it in such case?

[dej611]

Another use case to have an empty dimension label is when using the "Split metrics by" table dimension.